And Another One’s Gone

SOLVED!

UPDATED!

[BlindGossip] We are pleased to announce another defection from this controversial group. She is not talking about it yet, but we can tell you that she is an actress, and that she was a member of the group for many years.

Her new full-time gig doesn’t require any press time this summer, so she is keeping a very low profile for the time being. She started getting paranoid that her phone conversations were being tapped and that her child/ren were being followed, so she quietly consulted with another former member of the group (who is also an entertainer and Mom concerned about the safety of her kid/s). After their talk, the actress got new phones and hired new bodyguards to protect herself and her child/ren.

We don’t know if she has talked to her best friend – who is still a member of the group – about her decision.

Actress:

Mom:

Best Friend:

SOLVED!

She’s finally out of the Church of Sci*ntology! Good for you, Leah Remini!

Leah Remini is best known for her role as Carrie Heffernan on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens and as Stacey Carosi on the NBC sitcom Saved by the Bell. She was a panelist on The Talk in 2011, and can currently be seen on the television sitcom Family Tools.

Blogger and former Village Voice editor Tony Ortega has been doggedly pursuing and exposing the inner workings of the Co$ for years, and detailing his findings in his blog The Underground Bunker. He just published a story confirming our blind item that Leah Remini is the latest defector from the Co$. From The Underground Bunker:

On Friday, we reported that we’d received a tip King of Queens actress Leah Remini had left the Church of Sci*ntology in an angry fit. We asked our tipsters for more information, and we got it.

Over the weekend, we were contacted by several sources with detailed inside knowledge who tell us Remini is breaking away because of the way leader David Miscavige is treating church members, Sea Org workers, and Sci*ntology itself.

According to our sources, Remini has been distancing herself from what she refers to as the church’s “corrupt management” for a few years. And it started with a dramatic scene.

In November 2006, Remini was one of numerous celebrity guests at the wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes at a castle outside Rome. Cruise’s best man was David Miscavige, who has been the church’s leader since the death of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, in 1986.

Notably absent, however, was Miscavige’s wife, Shelly. Remini dared to ask about it — and loudly.

Leah Remini Quits Scientology

After ‘Years Of Interrogations’

Leah Remini, the star of “King of Queens,” has reportedly quit Sci*ntology.

According to the New York Post, Remini was subjected to “years of ‘interrogations’ and ‘thought modifications'” after she questioned Sci*ntology leader David Miscavige. A source told the Post that the church questioned Remini’s family and “blacklisted” her before she quit.

The Brooklyn native admitted to being a Scientologist in a 2001 interview and has defended the church multiple times. She even hosted gatherings where she would help fellow church members get to the next level of Scientology practice. An email she wrote about the events, was published on Gawker. But Mike Rinder, a Sci*ntologist blogger, wrote that the “drama surrounding Leah has been ongoing for some time.”

Sci*ntologist expert and former Village Voice editor Tony Ortega uncovered Remini’s rift with the church earlier this week. He said that at the wedding of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, Remini asked Miscavige, who was also Cruise’s best man, why his wife was absent. Ortega reported that Miscavige’s wife has been “kept out of sight at a secretive Sci*ntology facility near Lake Arrowhead.” After the wedding, Remini wrote church-authorized reports in which she criticized Miscavige and his leadership. In the years that followed, the actress and her family were reportedly subjected to repeated questioning and hostility.

We first told you that Remini was preparing to leave the church almost exactly a year ago. While Remini is one tough girl, it was very scary for her to realize that leaving the famously controlling “church” might endanger her family. She consulted with singer Lisa Marie Presley, who moved away from the “church” herself over the past couple of years.

Remini talked to Presley a lot about how to keep her family safe during the transition, and took Presley’s suggestions on changing out her phones and her security staff. We don’t know if she spoke to best friend Jennifer Lopez about her plans, as Lopez continues to have strong ties to the “church”.

While it took Remini a year to finalize her departure and have it made public, we are glad she is now out, and hope that she remains safe.

Congratulations to everyone who got this one right!

UPDATE!

Leah Remini made a statement about the past few days. While she doesn’t mention Co$ directly, it is pretty clear that she is acknowledging the support she is receiving while making this transition:

“I wish to share my sincere and heartfelt appreciation for the overwhelming positive response I have received from the media, my colleagues, and from fans around the world. I am truly grateful and thankful for all your support,” she says in a statement to People.